Posted By James Williams On October 31, 2013 @ 1:13 PM In 1080 Sports,College,Insider Main,main feature,Sports Media | No Comments

[1]

Florida Atlantic is rocked by the loss of their coach. Carl Pelini who resigned due to drug use.

Florida Atlantic coach Carl Pelini and defensive coordinator Pete Rekstis resigned Wednesday after acknowledging to university officials that they had used illegal drugs.

FAU received information about the allegations of drug usage Monday, said athletic director Patrick Chun. An investigation began immediately and Chun confronted the coaches on Wednesday, a day when law enforcement officials also visited the school’s athletic offices.

Chun said that as of now, neither Pelini nor Rekstis is facing any charges. The investigation is continuing, and Chun said that was limiting the amount of information he could publicly reveal, other than the drug usage happened off-campus, not at an official school event, not on the team’s most recent road trip and that no players were involved.

Neither of the former coaches were permitted to address the team before leaving campus. Howard Schnellenberger, the program’s founder and longtime coach who still serves as an ambassador for the university, was at Chun’s news conference Wednesday, looking crestfallen and sitting in silence.

Offensive coordinator Brian Wright will serve as interim head coach for the Owls, who are 2-6 and play host to Tulane on Saturday. It’s undecided if Wright will also continue serving in the coordinator role. Players were told of the dismissals Wednesday afternoon. Wright is scheduled to address reporters on Thursday.